{"id":68282,"date":"2022-11-22T05:54:23","date_gmt":"2022-11-22T12:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=68282"},"modified":"2022-11-22T05:54:23","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T12:54:23","slug":"cats-cry-crisis-as-student-owners-return-to-in-person-classes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2022\/11\/22\/cats-cry-crisis-as-student-owners-return-to-in-person-classes\/","title":{"rendered":"Cats cry crisis as student owners return to in-person classes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
A gloomy day:<\/strong> Yuri looks out the window of Pamela Shah’s home in Calgary on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022. Shah is a student at SAIT and Yuri often waits expectantly for her to return home from school. (Photo by Robin Contos\/SAIT)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

P<\/span>andemic pets are struggling to adjust as their owners spend more time away from home.<\/p>\n

D<\/span>uring the pandemic, people and pets grew close bonds. As the world moves back to a quicker pace in life, owners and pets are\u00a0 battling the mental and physical complications this separation brings.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing away from home so much actually accumulated vet bills, because he was so stressed,\u201d said SAIT student Pamela Shah, about her adopted cat Yuri. Shah adopted Yuri during the COVID-19 pandemic, in December 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started going out more often, he actually got so stressed that he broke out into an itchy rash on his back,\u201d Shah recalled, an emergency vet visit followed and it was determined that Yuri’s sudden illness was caused by stress.<\/p>\n

A recent study<\/a>\u00a0from the Current Biology Magazine showed that cats experience complex attachment styles, and an insecure attachment style in these animals can result in separation anxiety<\/a> and stress.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re really misunderstood,\u201d said Vivian Shu, a former SAIT student who owns three cats and fosters two. \u201cOnce you get to know them, and they get to know you, it\u2019s just like you have this unique bond.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roughly 30 per cent of\u00a0 Canadians adopted a pet during the pandemic, with many of these owners being in the student age demographic of 18-20.<\/p>\n

Despite all pets adopted during the pandemic being unfamiliar with being left at home alone – while dogs are known for being social and friendly, their feline counterparts struggle with the adjustment to their owners’ absence the most.<\/p>\n

Shah is missing the one-on-one time with Yuri as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually wish that classes were back online because I was focusing better and being a lot more productive,\u201d said Shah, \u201cHe played a huge role.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keala Hope, clinic manager at Happy Paws Veterinary Clinic in Airdrie, emphasized the importance of owners being able to spend enough time with their pets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is imperative that owners consider the amount of time and money they need to be able to put out in order to properly care for a pet,\u201d Hope said.<\/p>\n

It is imperative that owners consider the amount of time and money they need to be able to put out in order to properly care for a pet. – Keala Hope<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But the demands of life without COVID-19 restrictions make that awfully difficult for some.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I spend very little time with him each day, I feel really bad,” Shah said. “Because he\u2019s just by himself. He\u2019s an only pet.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pandemic pets are struggling to adjust as their owners spend more time away from home. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":788,"featured_media":68283,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S3 Pets Struggling","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1109],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-68282","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-life","8":"category-mental-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/788"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68282"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68385,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68282\/revisions\/68385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}